India:Home to the most ancient Artwork

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Geology discovers

India has the earliest artistic expression of man

 

By R.K. Ganjoo

Material evidences confirming the existence of early man in India

were first reported by Robert Bruce Foote in 1863, when he

discovered palaeolithic tools from Pallavaram (near Madras).

 

Thousands of palaeolithic sites yielding millions of stone artifacts

have been recovered since then. The large number of artifacts and

palaeolithic sites has helped in critically evaluating the behaviour

and interaction of Early Man with the prevailing environment.

Various disciplines of science, particularly geology, have played a

vital role, for the past three decades, in deciphering the climate,

chronology and environment of the palaeolithic sites. The scientific

logics thus, provide a sound bedrock to the archaeological

arguments.

 

Among several environmental situations, the Early Man lived in

natural caves and rock shelters for several thousands of years.

Natural processes formed the caves and rock shelters in the Vindhyan

mountains of Madhya Pradesh. During this period, the artifacts made

and techniques employed have undergone a considerable though gradual

and continuous change.

 

The discarded or utilised artifacts lay buried under the sediments

in the caves/rock shelters and were preserved for a very long time,

as the deposits in cave or rock shelters were left undisturbed by

flowing water or wind. Thus, the material remains of Early Man from

rock shelters and caves hold more significance as one can build up a

continuous history of Early Man's culture in an undisturbed context.

 

It was these rock shelters and caves which helped to preserve

paintings (rock art) made by the Early Man.

 

These paintings reflect the earliest artistic expressions of man and

provide sufficient knowledge on his way of life. Rock paintings

exposed at Bhimbetka (near Bhopal) are a museum of rock art in India

and are recognised as a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

 

One of the earliest forms of rock art is the petroglyph. Petroglyphs

are figures that are made by removing the upper layers of the rock.

A preliminary study of petroglyphs in India was carried out in parts

of Rajasthan (Kanyadeh) and Madhya Pradesh (Raisen). However,

petroglyph study from these sites lacked dating and scientific

study.

 

In the Rock Art Seminar held in 1990 at Agra, the Rock Art Society

of India identified the study of petroglyphs as one of the fields on

priority basis. Keeping in view the lack of information on Indian

petroglyphs, the Early Indian Petroglyph (EIP) Project commenced in

2001 with the objective to rewrite the pleistocene history of Early

Man in the subcontinent. The EIP project is a joint venture of the

Rock Society of India, Agra (RASI) and the Australian Rock Art

Research Association (AURA) with support from the Archaeological

Survey of India (ASI) and the Indian Council of Historical Research

(ICHR). In addition, geo-archaeologists and chronologists from

various institutes in India and Australia are also involved in the

project.

 

To begin with, the EIP commission took up Daraki-Chattan region as a

case for the study of early petroglyphs in India. Daraki-Chattan—a

rock shelter within the Vindhyan mountains overviewing River Rewa—is

situated near Bhanpura in district Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh. Daraki-

Chattan reveals the hoary past of the extensive rock art in this

cave beyond doubt. Excavation at Daraki-Chattan was carried out by

Dr Giriraj Kumar (Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra) with

technical support from the Archaeological Survey of India (Bhopal

Circle). The objective of excavation at Daraki-Chattan was to

establish cultural stratigraphy at the site, collect evidences

related to the production of cupules, obtain scientific dates (such

as OSL, AMS C14) for different levels concerning art objects and

human artifacts, and establish geo-archaeological history of the

region.

 

The excavation at Daraki-Chattan revealed immense information on the

cultural occupation of the site. The collection of stone artifact

assemblage from the excavation undoubtedly reveals that the shelter

was occupied by the Acheulian man. Interestingly enough, Bhanpura

town, close to the Daraki-Chattan site, and its adjoining area have

been continuously under occupation by man of different cultural

periods since the Acheulian times. Daraki-Chattan is a local name of

a hill near village Bhanpura in the Vindhyans that has a series of

rock shelters. In geological past, the Vindhyans were formed as a

single rock block but were subsequently subjected to erosion by wind

and water which ultimately weathered them. The joints between the

rocks widened over a period of time and then blocks or rocks became

unstable and collapsed to give rise to rock shelters. These shelters

not only provided suitable landform for the Early Man to protect

hismelf from the vagaries of weather but also the shelters on hills

which served as an overview to the dense forest below.

 

The study of the surroundings of Daraki-Chattan was carried out to

investigate the climatic history of the area during the times when

the Acheulian man occupied the site. Shri S.B. Ota (Superintending

Archaeologist, Archeological Survey of India, Bhopal Circle), and I,

myself, undertook the study of geological sediments that were

deposited when the Acheulian man was exploring the valley adjoining

the shelter. It was clear from the size (width and depth) and the

large collection of artifacts from the excavation that the shelter

was used by the Early Man as a temporary settlement for making tools

and fulfilling other necessary activities. Dense forest existing

around the shelter and along the valley of River Rewa must have

supported a rich wealth of fauna and flora. Excavations in the

sediments deposited by River Rewa revealed a succession of

prehistoric cultural material remains beginning from the Early

Palaeolithic to Upper Palaeolithic era, supporting the view that the

valley and the surroundings were under regular occupation by the

Early Man. Pressure of stone artifacts in the shelters in the river

valley also corroborate the fact that the activity of Early Man was

not confined to the particular shelter only. Rich faunal and floral

wealth must have encouraged the Early Man to venture into the river

valleys and forests. Thus the sediments brought down by the rivers

must have covered and sealed the discarded or used stone artifacts

of Early Man. A lot of information has been gathered on climate that

existed during the period when the sediments were formed and

deposited.

 

The indepth study of the sediments deposited by River Rewa

unravelled the palaeoclimatic history of the region. The associated

assemblage of stone artifacts suggests the relative age range of 1.8

million years before present to 400,000 years before present for the

sediments. The generation of large slope deposits or fans

substantiates the fact that the area must have faced sub-humid to

semi-arid climatic conditions.

(The author is Reader in Geology, Department of Geology, University

of Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir. The author has been actively engaged in

research on quaternary palaeo-climate and geo-archaeology for past

one-and-a-half decade.)